Just say the word
by ElementalDragonGirl
Summary: Prompt: Ziva Vicari is a Jedi that was sent to protect Duchess Satine Kryze, from not only the assassination attempts on her life, but the threat of the dark side looming over the galaxy. Over the short amount of time that the two women are together, there seems to be something more than what they started with.
1. Chapter 1

( **3** **rd** **person P.O.V)**

"Mandalore you must go, protect Duchess you must" Yoda said as he walked beside his latest Padawan, now turned master Jedi, Ziva Vicari.

"Of course, Master Yoda, when do you wish me to depart?" Ziva asked looking down at her old master,

"noon you must, waste no time, important it is" **_(why is it so hard to write Yoda? T-T)_** Ziva looked up at the sun to estimate how much time they had left, maybe another solid fifteen minutes before she had to leave, it should be enough time for one final walked with her old Master.

"has there been word from Obi-Wan?" she asked, Ziva had met Obi-Wan a couple of times, and during those times, she had interrogated him enough to know that he and Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore had been close in their youth.

"In hiding he is still" Ziva nodded, sure his Padawan Anakin had turned to the dark side, but she still could not comprehend why Obi-Wan would go into hiding.

"Shall I inform the Duchess of this?" She asked fiddling with the lightsaber that was hanging on her belt.

"No, hurt her it will" Yoda said as they started walking onto the landing pad where a ship was waiting.

"Good luck, I wish you" Ziva nodded and boarded the ship.

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

It had taken almost six hours before I had reached Mandalore, and when I did, I wasn't very shocked, it looked just like I pictured it, pacifist, not peaceful, but not violent either. Walking off of the ship, I was greeted by two guards,

"Greeting Master Jedi" one of the guards said as they bowed at the waist,

"Do not bow to me, the only person you should bow to is your Duchess" I said, I could see the surprise of my statement in their eyes, no doubt they had been brought up to bow to almost everyone with a higher rank in society then them.

"Now I do believe that I have a job to do, and to do that job, I need to start by meeting with said Duchess." The guards nodded and lead me to through the city, none of us said anything, so we just walked forwards, I never let my eyes drift to the whispering people that lined the streets, watching us, I tuned them out, and focused myself on fiddling with my light saber, a habit I had gotten into over the years of training.

We entered to greet a random servant who was sent to fetch the Duchess as quickly as possible, one of the guards stopped outside the door, and the other lead me towards a fancy throne against the back wall, elevated by a platform.

You stood there admiring the room for maybe a couple minutes before one of the side door opens,

"Not that I mind, but why have they not sent Master Kenobi to _protect_ me this time?" The Duchess asked as she walked into the room, spitting out the word protect like it was poison, the woman was tall, and thin, with dazzling blue eyes, and short platinum blonde hair. She was dressed in a more complicated, yet beautiful, dress then one of the ones I had seen Padme in while she was queen, but this dress was long enough were the Duchess had to hold up the front of the dress to keep from tripping.

"Although Master Yoda had advised me against telling you, I feel as though I must" I said as Duchess Satine sat upon her throne,

"Go on" she said leaning forward slightly in anticipation, I looked around the room wearily, not knowing who of these people I can trust, the Duchess seeming to notice this took action,

"Leave us" she commanded her voice echoing through the room, some were more reluctant to leave then others, but eventually it was just the two of us in the room,

"Now, tell me what you feel you must tell me" she ordered, her voice was soft yet commanding.

"alright, although you may not like it" she only nodded and motioned for me to get on with it,

"Anakin Skywalker has turned to the dark side, he has slaughtered all of the younger force sensitive children in the, now destroyed, Jedi temple" I paused, the Duchess seemed deep in thought, "Padme Amidala has died in child birth, her twin children however survived, Luke and Leia, though they are now split up" the Duchess looked down with sadness in her eyes, you took a gulp, you knew this next one would more than likely hurt her the most, from how close Obi-Wan said they once were.

"And Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has gone into hiding" the Duchess looked at me like she was about to cry from all this information,

"How can all this sadness happen without me knowing? Why must it happen to good people who don't deserve it?" she asked silent tears started to trickle down her face, some of her make up smudged, she looked so helpless, and I may never know why, but I had pulled her up from her throne and let her sob into my shoulder, soaking my robe in her tears.

"hush now, it's alright, it's as they say, it's always the best of people that are hurt the most" I could feel the Duchess calm down, slowly sure, but at least she didn't have to go through this alone.

"How about we play twenty questions"

 **(Satine's P.O.V)**

"How about we play twenty questions" I looked up at the Jedi who was holding me,

"What?" I had never heard of such a thing, but I was curious, but of course I was curious about this woman since I entered the room, she wasn't like the other Jedi I had met, she was calmer, she had more mirth, and something else I just don't know what.

"It's a game, where I ask a question then we both answer it, and then you ask a question, and we repeat twenty times," she whipped my tears away, and helped me sit back down on my throne before taking her own seat on the floor at my feet,

"So it's a game to get to know each other?" I asked looking down at her, her dark shiny brown hair was pulled back in a long braid that was slung over her right shoulder, her green eyes sparkled with life, and her lightly tanned skin was toned and muscular. But those old Jedi robes did not compliment her at all.

"Exactly, so fist question, what is your full title?" I smiled slightly, yes it did pain me to hear about what had become of my friends, but for some reason, being with this woman, I don't know why, but her aura is so bright and cheerful, that you can't stay sad even if you wanted to.

"Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, and a proud pacifist, but call me Satine, now you" she giggled slightly at my pacifist remark, and I can see why, in a galaxy like this, it's hard for one to find any pacifists, let alone a whole planet, but that's what made Mandalore, well, Mandalore. She cleared her throat before speaking,

"Jedi Knight Ziva Vicari, Ex-Padawan to Jedi Master Yoda, but please call me Ziva, I'm not a big fan of fancy titles" I nodded at this information,

"what was your home planet, surely you were not born in the Jedi temple?" I asked,

"no of course not, I was born on Rishi" Ziva paused for a moment at the mention of her home planet, she shook her head and continued, "now, how about you, have you always lived on Mandalore?" she asked, I shook my head slightly, as to not let my head dress fall off,

"No, I was born on Kalevala, I came to Mandalore later in life" she tilted her head in confusion,

"Never heard of it" she said bobbing her head with her lips pulled into a straight line,

"and I have never heard of Rishi, so were even" I said and we laughed together, when we had calmed down, Ziva continued the game.

"Okay, um, who is your favorite family member?" she asked, and I didn't hesitate,

"My nephew Korkie" she nodded, "What about you?" I asked observing how her body tensed, it wasn't completely noticeable, but with a trained eye, it was easy to spot.

"Well I technically don't have any family, at least that I remember, but Master Windu was kind of like a father figure I guess" I knew that force sensitive children were sent away at young ages before they could form close attachments to their parents, and I know I shouldn't feel bad for her because this is something that happened on a regular basis, but I did I felt bad, and I don't know why.

We went on like that for the next half an hour, laughing, and sometimes just silence out of respect, but it was weird, this woman, I was ready to put my life in her hands, and I had just met her less than thirty minutes ago. We both stood up and walked out of the room, I showed her around and made sure she knew that my room was just next door, for security reasons of course, I also re assured her that I would have a list for her every morning with what I'm doing during the day, when, and where.

"Well I bid you goodnight"

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

"Well I bid you goodnight," I said as we stopped in front of my door,

"Do you not want something to eat? I know you missed dinner, but-" I held up my hand to cut her off,

"No, I ate on the ship" that was a lie, but I wasn't hungry, if anything I was more tired than anything else.

"alright, I shall see you in the morning" Satine replied as she entered her room, her two maids that had been following us the whole time during the tour followed her in. Once the door was closed I waited for any disturbance, when there was none I walked into my own room, it was big, but not to big, the floor was carpeted, with a double bed against the far wall, and a living room, set up, I probably won't ever use it but it was nice. I walked over and flopped onto the bed and almost instantly I fell asleep.

 **(Dream)**

 _everything was blurry, colors where mixed together, and fuzzy like clouds clumped together. I looked around two figures were standing in front of me, one was smaller than the other, and while the taller figure was made up of fuzzy yellow, and pale blue, the smaller one was brown with purple._

 _"come here my love, I have something for you" the taller figure walked towards me, it was defiantly a she from her softer, higher pitched voice, and it was familiar I just can't put a finger on it. I stood still, it's not that I didn't want to move, I couldn't move, I tried as the taller figure got close enough to where our noses where touching, and the figure crashed her lips on mine,_

 _"Ewww, mama stop it, that's gross" the smaller figure yelled, a young girl, that's what the voice belonged to. I tried to focused on what was happening, and tried to make the images more clear, but instead it all started to fade away._


	2. Chapter 2

**(Ziva's P.O.V)**

I jumped awake, my body was covered in a light layer of sweat, my breath was fast and uneven, and my heart felt like it was trying to break out of my chest. I knew what that was, it was a Force Dream, it wasn't strong, but it was still a Force Dream. I looked out the window, the sky was still dark, but it was brightening.

"maybe I should just take a walk" I muttered and put my lightsaber back on my belt from the night stand, I put my shoes back on and exited the room, for a while I just wandered the halls, no one was up yet, not like I expected anyone to be, it was too early, even for when I was training under Yoda. I walked into the garden and ignored the guards who were stationed at the door half asleep, I walked towards a fountain and took a seat on the edge, I started to meditate, I lost track of time because the sun was high in the sky when a servant came and handed me a paper with fancy writing, on it was a times table with specific instructions on where to be and when,

"Thank you" I nodded to the servant who hurried off to go do something probably more pressing then handing me paper. I walked away from the garden and towards the dining room where Satines schedule claims her to be, when I walked in all attention was on me, not even food had been served, but there was the Duchess, dressed and ready for the day, not a hair out of place, and make up done to perfection.

"I see your up early this morning, may I ask why?"

 **(Satine's P.O.V)**

"I see your up early this morning, may I ask why?" I asked, as I had been informed by one of the guards in our hall that she had left early, of course I had pulled an all-nighter, that I deeply regret now, to finish paperwork that I could have easily finished this morning.

"Yes, I couldn't fall back a sleep so I went to meditate" Ziva replied, I nodded

"Take a seat" I gestured to the seat next to me, as she took her seat I noted that she needed more than just that one Jedi robe, we waited for a little while longer in silence, she didn't seem to want to talk very much this morning, when the food was served I watched as she pocked around it for a few minutes before deciding it was safe to eat.

"Have you gone over the schedule for today?" I asked glancing up from my food to look at her, she nodded, swallowing the food she had finished chewing one,

"Yes, though I am surprised you have yet to over exhaust yourself with all this running around," _and all the all-nighters I've pulled lately_ I added, but I didn't dare say it out loud, because I don't know how she would react to something like that, I know Obi-Wan would have had me cancel everything and sleep for the rest of the day, _Obi-Wan, why are you hiding?_ I asked, I know he couldn't hear me, but I wanted to know, why he would punish himself like this, did he blame himself? Or did his blame his old master Qui-Gon Jinn for letting Anakin come with them to the temple? I was so in thought I didn't even notice breakfast was over till Ziva laid a hand on my shoulder causing me to jump in surprise.

"Satine, are you alright?" she asked her face laced with worry,

"Oh, yes, yes I'm fine, it's time for my meeting, isn't it?" she nodded and held an arm out for me to take,

"Thank you" I slipped my arm through hers and walked with guards on our left and right. When we entered the meeting room Ziva stood next to the door and waited patiently for my meetings to finish. As the day went by I started to get more, and more tired, so by the end of the day when I got up to go back for dinner, the room started to spin, and darken,

"Satine? Sat-" voices faded and the world turned black.

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

I caught Satine as she fell,

"Is she alright?" One of the guards asked looking down at me, I didn't know for sure, so I ignored them and took her back to her room where a Droid came and checked her over for any signs of anything deadly,

"The Duchess is fine, she just over exerted herself" the Droid said everyone in the room sighed and relief,

"All right, since the Duchess is sleeping, no one is to enter her room-" the two guards at the door nodded,

"I want everyone to continue their normal activities, if they include serving The Duchess then you may have the rest of the day off-" the handmaid's nodded in agreement,

"and I will stay until she wakes up in case anyone were to slip by the guards."

It didn't take long for everyone to exit the room, leaving me sitting in a plush chair next to the Duchess's bedside. All there was to do now is wait for her to awaken.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Satine's P.O.V)**

I opened my eyes and looked around, I was in my room, it was dark out now, there was no longer any light outside, everyone was asleep by now. I glanced around my room, and by next to my bed, was Ziva curled up, and fast asleep, her lightsaber wrapped tightly in her hands, and light snores of exhaustion, why did she stay? she didn't have to stay in the room, nor did she have to sleep in the chair. But she did.

"Ziva?" I whispered, she didn't respond, she was still asleep,

"Ziva?" I tried again, still nothing, is she really that much of a sound sleeper? I thought Jedi were supposed to be alert.

"Ziva!" I barked, the Jedi jumped up off the chair and pulled her light saber out, bright green light filtered through the room from her saber.

"Put that thing away" I stated crossed my arms,

"Oh, Satine, your awake?" She asked turning off her lightsaber and sliding it onto her belt. She walked over and sat in the edge of the bed,

"How are you feeling?" I sat up and leaned against the pile of pillows on my bed,

"Surprisingly refreshed" I answered she had a small smile on her face.

"Well since passed out from exhaustion, I don't doubt it" Ziva streched, the popping of her stiff joints echoed through the room,

"I did what?" I asked in disbelief, how could this have happened? I know I was tired, but I didn't think I was that tired.

"You passed out, and you have some worried servants to apologize to, they thought you were poisoned or something when no one was looking" I chuckled slightly, ever since the Death Watch started up, they seemed more worried about me, not that that wasn't understandable of course, but sometimes it can be annoying.

"Of course, now I don't believe I had dinner" I stated as I started to get up from bed,

"Why don't we head down to the kitchens"

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

"Why don't we head down to the kitchens" it wasn't a question, it was a statement. I walked beside Satine all the way through the halls, occasionally having to shoo off some guards who wanted to accompany us. When we entered the kitchen Satine went straight to one of the pantries and started pulling out different ingredients,

"What are you making?" I asked scrunching my nose at some of the things she had pulled out,

"Something" was all she replied, I started walking around the kitchen, there really wasn't much to see other then food, prep tables, and some chairs. I looked up to see herbs hanging from the ceiling by ropes, and something else, I couldn't make out what it was, but it was darker and was skittering around,

"Satine?" I didn't take my eyes off of the bug like thing,

"Yes?" she turned to face me, she followed my gaze up to the herbs and squinted her eyes,

"Do you normally have droids in your, kitchen?" I asked, she furrowed her brows trying to think,

"No, not that I know of" she paused and looked back at the ceiling, "Why?" I didn't answer her, until the thing dropped down to the table in front of us, it wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either, Its red eye like lights stared back at us, the glowing got brighter like it was preparing to fire.

"Satine find something to hide under" I said as I turned on my light saber,

"I may be the duchess but that doesn't mean i'm weak" she huffed crossing her arms,

"But you are a pacifist and it is my job to protect you," I pointed out, as I blocked a blast from the droid, that just barley missed the Duchess

"Okay fine" she ducked under the closest table which was only a few feet away, but at least she was somewhat protected. I dodged blast as the bug like droid that had taken to hopping from table to table, and rack to rack, I slashed at it but it hopped out of the way, but I was able to cut off one of the legs, It stopped hopping around to prepare to fire, I just barley dodged the blast, but it still skimmed by arm,

"Agh" I could feel the blood starting to drip down my arm, it stung, but i couldn't let that get in my way, I studied and dodged the next couple blast before I noticed its pattern, It stopped moving as it recharged to fire, so when it started to recharge, I took one last swing, and cut it in half, and striking it one more time just to be sure.

"Your bleeding" I looked over to see Satine standing not to far away, but farther then she was when the fight had started, I turned off my green lightsaber and clipped it to my belt,

"Yeah, I kind of noticed" I grumbled, putting my hand over the open wound,

"Come, we need to dress that wound before it gets infected," I nodded and we walked side by side, Satine guiding me to the dedicated hospital room, that was normally empty, on the way we found a servant to go clean up the kitchen and bring some kind of food to Satine's sitting room.

 **(Satine's P.O.V)**

When we reached the hospital room, I took a seat next to the bed that the medical droids had ushered Ziva to, I observed the situation and couldn't help but chuckle,

"What?" Ziva asked, before winching as disinfectants where applied to the wound. **,**

"Nothing really, only the fact that we were in opposite positions earlier" Ziva shook her head as the droid started stitching up the wound.

"Are you sure your okay?" Ziva asked looking me up and down, this wasn't the first time she had asked, she asked every twenty seconds it felt like on the way here.

"For the last time i'm perfectly fine, a little shaken sure, but not injured" I said a justing my position in the chair to be more comfortable, she nodded biting hard on her bottom lip as the sterilized bandages were wrapped tightly around her arm,

"Hey Satine?" I looked over at her and gestured for her to continue,

"make sure your guards do a good sweep of the place, I don't want to have to fight with stitches in my arm" I nodded, making a mental note to do that. Because I can tell we both know that, that droid would not be the last.


	4. Chapter 4

**(Ziva's P.O.V)**

When we had entered Satine's sitting room, the coffee table already had food covering the entire surface, I may not be an expert but, i'm pretty sure that we were not in the infirmary that long.

"How is all of this already cooked?" I asked sitting down across from Satine,

"Most of it is pre-cooked, so they just have to heat it up, and put it on the table" Satine explained as she took a sip from her cup, what was in the cup, I could only guess. We sat in silence for a bit, just eating, the food was good, for a small meal that didn't get a prep warning.

"How's your arm?" I looked up at Satine who had just finished eating, and pushed everything out of her way,

"Sore" I put another piece of fruit in my mouth, she nodded and started to get up and leave,

"Well, i'm going to go to my room, I'll see you later"

 **(Satine's P.O.V)**

"Well, i'm going to go to my room, i'll see you later" I walked away leaving her alone in the sitting room, two guards appeared at my side and followed me as we walked down the hall it seemed to get emptier and emptier, there was no one anywhere.

"Where is everyone?" I questioned, because not long ago, there were late night servants still finishing up, one of the guards dropped back behind me and the other stepped in front of me,

"Sorry your highness but im afraid we need to take a detour," the guard in front of me said, the voice was familiar but I couldn't place it,

"Who are you? whats going on?" I demanded, the guard turned to face me,

"I don't know if I should be offended-" he started to take of his helmet, "-Or if I should be honored that I don't have a reserved place in your memory" his helmet came of and a familiar face stared back at me,

"Vizsla" I growled backing away right into the forgotten guard behind me,

"Hello, sister" the guard said as she took hold of me,

"Bo-Katan" I didn't want to call her sister, I never wanted to call her sister again, after she chose to help those behind my assassination attempt. I tried to get out of her hold, but she held on tight,

"Now, now Duchess, don't fight us, or this will not end pretty" Vizsla said with a smirk on his face, but i kept trying to get out of Bo-Katan's hold, but it was impossible, when I tried calling out for Ziva, Vizsla whipped out a cloth and placed it over my face, and everything went black.

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

The force was warning me, why I don't know yet, I ran through the halls following the pull of the force, it lightened the closer I got to where I needed to be. The front entrance. when I entered there was no one but a man with a black saber, that looked like a sword,

"Who are you?" I asked pulling out my own saber, trying to keep from using my bad arm,

"Aw, well, it seems the Duchess has yet another knight at her side," the man said,

"Okay baldy, where the fuck is she?" I asked he did a double take at my comment,

"Well it seems you have more fire, then, oh what was his name, Obi-Wan was it?" I nodded, last i checked he was the last Jedi to guard Satine,

"That still didn't answer my question freak-o" I loved fooling around with the enemy,

"she's somewhere, as well as that nephew of hers, Korkie" so this dude not only has the Duchess, but he also has her freaking nephew? this dude has stooped low.

"You are not helping, like at all, where is somewhere?" his smirk faded into a frown,

"why would I tell you that?"

"So I can get them back?" I said slowly like it was obvious,

"No, how about we play a game, if you win we re-turn them, if you lose, you die and we keep them" He looked so smug, i just wanted to drive my saber through him,

"Whats the game?"

 _ **(A/N: Sorry this one is short, I promise the next chapter will be longer)**_


	5. Chapter 5

**(Ziva's P.O.V)**

"Whats the game?" I asked skeptically, slowly putting my saber away,

"Meet us at the arena on the far side of the planet, noon, and the game will begin" his jetpack turned on and he flew away, leaving no other information behind.

"Damn it" I shouted kicking the nearest thing to me, which just so happened to be a stone column, I looked down at my arm the bandage was still wrapped tightly around it, that wouldnt do.

I stormed into the hospital room, and demanded that the droids fuse the skin together, instead of letting it heal naturally. I needed it healed now, if I wanted any chance of winning this 'game' what ever it is. Time seemed to go by to fast, it was almost an hour long ride on transport, to get to the arena, so I left at 10 to be in time. The city seemed empty, like a ghost town, no one was in the streets, almost all the stores where closed, and no one was on the transport I was taking.

Whether it was a good thing I didn't know.

The arena seemed to be a crumbling mess when I arrived, Baldy was standing in front waiting for me with a couple of Death Watch guards around him.

"What's the game Baldy?" I asked raising an eye brow with a hand on my hip,

"Easy, you fight some creatures we have brought in, and if you survive, you get your precious Duchess back" I nodded,

"Fine, what are these creatures?" I studied his body language to see how dangerous these creatures could be.

"You will be fighting an Acklay-" it wouldnt be nice but it would be easy to take it out,

"-a Blenjeel Sand worm-" I winched those worms where not very friendly, not at all

"-A Grophet-" I wanted to laugh, Grophet where creatures of my home planet Rishi,

"-And finally a surprise" he turned and lead me into the arena, it was spacious, and all of Mandalore was sitting in the stands, waiting, watching to see if I would succeed in protecting they're Duchess.

In one corner of the arena Satine was sitting in a cage hugging a teenage boy like her life depended on it. The boy was probably Korkie, the nephew she had told me about, she looked up as the crowd started cheering louder,

"ZIVA!"

 **(Satine's P.O.V)**

"ZIVA!" I shouted when looked up to see why the crowd had gotten so rowdy, she nodded in my direction with a small smile on her face, her bandage was missing from her arm, a long scar had taken its place.

"Aunty, who is she?" I looked down and tightened my grip on my nephew,

"Her name is Ziva, my latest Jedi protector" he nodded and hugged me back just as hard as I was hugging him.

"I'm sure she can get us out of here Aunty" Korkie said forcing a smile,

"I know Korkie, I'm just worried _how_ she's going to get us out of here" I watched as Vizsla as he and his guards flew to the viewing stand, that the higher ups would sit in. He stood there and extended his arms,

"Let our game begin, _Jedi"_ he spat the word Jedi like it was a posion on his tounge, Ziva pulled out her lightsaber, as to Death Watch guards dragged In an Acklay, I closed my eyes and turned away, I tried to ignore the sound of the lightsaber hitting the hide of the creature, the screeches, and the cheering of the crowds so riled up from the violence that I could never understand getting satisfaction from.

"Good you killed your first task, now for the second" Vizsla's voice rang through the arena as the people's cheers died out,

"Bring It On" Ziva's voice replied just as loud,

The ground start to shake, and the crowd started to get louder, and loud, until it was too loud for you to even hear your own thoughts. I open my eyes and look towards where Ziva's voice of come from, her body was covered in sweat and a little blood, her lightsaber glowing dangerously as a giant worm with razor sharp fangs pushed out of the ground, and started to attack Ziva where she stood. She fought gracefully like a dance already planned, I looked away as she cut off the head of the Beast, the blood on her clothes was not only her enemies, it was hers to.

"She's an excellent fighter Aunty" Korkie said not taking his eyes off Ziva, strange feeling in my chest caught my attention, it was like my chest was constricting and getting tighter, I had only felt this once before, with Obi-Wan when we were young, it was jealousy. What was I jealous of though? Surely it can't be Korkies attention on Ziva, could it?

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

My heart was hammering, my breath was short, I was already sore, and I still had two more creatures to go. I knew Baldy over there wouldn't go easy on me, I didn't think it would be this difficult to begin with, sure the Acklay was easy, but the worm what's another story. I looked back over at Satine, she had turned her head away, then turned her attention back to the fight, but her nephew paid attention the whole time never looking away, occasionally commenting or at least that's what it looked like from the movements of his mouth.

I watch as they brought in the final known creature, my childhood before the Jedi involved running around with them, sure they were violent at times, but that was only when they were caged, or attacked, I knew how to tame one, and I know I couldnt kill it.

The Grophet what's large, more than likely a male, its horns had been sharpened, and it did not look happy, not one bit. I waited for it to charge, before I jumped out of the way, we went on like this for a few more turns before I start to get tired.

I stuck out my hand, pretending to use the force on it. I watched as it slowed down and started to rub it's head against my hand, avoiding stabbing me with the horns,

"What are you doing Ziva?" I heard Satine ask, it was like a whisper but I could still hear it,

"Good boy, play dead" I whispered, taking my lightsaber and as it fell to the ground to obey my command, I swung but I never hit it

"You need to kill it to succeed the challenge" freaky bald dude shouted, I turn towards him,

"I would kill it if it wasn't already dead" he sent two guards done to check, and of course they pronounced the Grophet dead.

"Fine, time for our next and final challenge" a guard entered the arena dragging something behind him, when it reached me it toss the thing forwards, it was a girl, she couldnt be any more older than seven, her brown hair was cut off just below her ears, her blue eyes where dull and lifeless, and her skin was to pale to be healthy, the clothes were rags the clung close to her skin, she had no shoes, but what caught my attention what's the metal collar around her neck, it was blinking different colors, it took me a moment to realize, but it was a slave collar.

"You want me to fight a child?" I started looking towards baldy in disgust,

"I will not hurt an innocent" his smirk turned into an evil grin,

"Ah, but unless you want your duchess, you need to finish the final task," I looked over at Satine who was looking between me and the child with a horrified expression on her face.

"Calypso, fight" Baldy yelled for the whole arena to hear, they cheered as the child changed her stance, from an innocent, shy little girl, to a child molded into a warrior.


	6. Chapter 6

**(Satine's P.O.V)**

Vizsla wanted Ziva to fight and kill a child, a _child,_ just the thought made me feel sick. I watched Ziva wondering what she would do, the girl-Calypso- as Vizsla called her put herself in a fighter's position, no weapons just her bare hands, I stood up and walked to the wall of our cage,

"Ziva don't, I don't care what happens to me, don't hurt her!" I called out Ziva's green eyes flicked over to me for a breif moment,

"If something were to happen to you I can never forgive myself, because it would be my fault," she turned her attention back to Calypso who was started running towards her, she started punching at Ziva who was dodging and trying to avoid laying a hand on her, but she never put away her lightsaber, occasionally she would swing at calypso, obviously not trying to hit her but to slow down her attacks.

"How could he do this, that's a child, who needs love, not battle wounds" Korkie growled pushing against the wall of our cage, as much as I want to calm him down, I had to agree with him, what he said was the truth.

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

I want I want nothing more than to snap baldies neck, I know the only way to stop this fight without killing her was to get the collar off, but that proves to be impossible as she's mainly just guarding her neck.

"Calypso was it? How about we make a deal" I said jumping to avoid one of her next attacks,

"We stop this right now, I remove that collar, we can both walk away from this free" Calypso's movements faltered, she seem to be taking into account what I was saying, but her stupid collar blinked red and she went right back to trying to kill me.

"ZIVA STRIKE FOR HER COLLAR!" Satine shouted, dodged another attack and aimed my landing towards her cage,

"I would if she would just stop for a moment" I barked, pausing to take a breather, before dodging another of Calypso's strikes,

"Talk to her it seemed to work before" Korkie stated, I nodded,

"Calypso, was it? my name is Ziva Vicari, I wont hurt you, I can promise that, if you want to be free please stand down" I watched as she froze slight but she was still moving, listening to what I was saying, I walked towards her slowly,

"If you want to you can come with me, but thats only if you let me take that collar off," she stopped moving and just stood there, I took my lightsaber and slashed at her neck...

 **(Satine's P.O.V)**

The collar fell to the ground with a clean cut running through it,

"Oh my force" I put a hand over my mouth as the girl collapsed into Ziva's arms,

"Live" Ziva called out and the Grophet jumped up from the ground and charged towards her,

"but I thought it was dead?" I looked over at Korkie only to see him get not only the keys to our cage, but the gun off of one of the guards that was guarding out cage, he fired and the guard fell, I watched as the people started to get riled up, and not in the good way, as I looked around I saw Ziva put Calypso on the Grophet's back, before picking up her saber and taking to killing the Death Watch that came down to attack her.

"There" Korkie threw open the door and opened fire, I watched the chaos around me, people fleeing from the stands, guards trying to get to Ziva through the crowds, I grabbed a blaster from the ground with shaky hands, I held it up as Vizsla walked towards me, his blaster pointed at the ground,

"Put that down Satine, we both know you wont shoot" He started to raise his blaster, but green light slashed through the area where his lungs would be,

"Maybe she wont, but I will" I looked at Ziva who kicked Vizsla's body aside, and held out a hand, I dropped the blaster without hesitation and took her hand, she helped me up onto the Grophet in front of Korkie, but behind the sleeping Calypso, who was placed behind Ziva.

"Hold on" Ziva stated as she nudged the Grophet into a run and made our way through the crowd, I clutched the small girl to my chest, with one arm, with another I was holding onto Ziva, as to not fall off, Korkie holding onto me from behind.

When we stopped we where infront of a smaller ship, but big enough for all of us to be comfortable, I passed Calypso to Korkie when he slid off, Next was Ziva and she helped me down, and we all boarded the ship, Korkie put Calypso down on a small cot against the wall, before heading to the cock pit, and sat in the pilots seat, closing the hatch and taking off,

"Can I jump to light speed?" he asked looking back at us, Ziva who had just walked back into the main area near the cock pit nodded,

"Feel free, we need to get out of here, or this is not going to end pretty" Korkie nodded and put us at light speed, when we where all sitting, I looked out one of the small windows at what was once my home, it looked silent but deadly, it looked like it did the first time I ever stepped foot on Mandalore, when it was still full of war and hatred.

"Where do you want to go?" Korkie asked and he started putting in coordinates,

"Take us to Rishi, its some were safe, out of the way, and we have just enough fuel to get there"

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

"Take us to Rishi, its some were safe, out of the way, and we have just enough fuel to get there" Satine furrowed her eyebrows before realization crossed her features,

"Is that not your home planet?" She asked looking up at me, since she was sitting and I was standing, I nodded and started playing around with random things around the space with the force, Satine was watching with a slight sparkle in her eyes as she watched the objects fly around. The ship was quite, no one wanted to talk, and i could understand why, people died today, and Mandalore's people had reverted back to their old violent ways. It was easy to tell how much it upset Satine, but she was trying to hide it, but I dont think any of us where fooled, well all of us but Calypso who was still unconscious from having the collar that controlled her brain removed.

"Were almost ready to land" Korkie called back, I walked over and directed him to where we wanted to land, because if I was right, the people of Rishi wouldn't travel this far out into the woods, and my childhood home should still be standing.

And as out luck should have it, the small wooden cottage was still standing, when Korkie opened the hatch I picked up Calypso, who was unsurprisingly light, and walked out,

"Welcome to my home."


	7. Chapter 7

**(Ziva's P.O.V)**

I lead everyone to the house, Satine stuck closely by my side and Korkie was looking around in wonder, and Calypso was starting to shift around in my arms, more then likely trying to get comfortable.

"This place is beautiful" Korkie whispered as his eyes scanned over the grass field, and forest surrounding it, I nodded in agreement. When we walked up to the porch, Korkie took Calypso from me so I could open the door and get everyone situated, The house hadn't changed much from how I remember it was like as a child, the wooden walls where light from years of just sitting in the sun, the floor was wood or carpet depending on the room, the house stunk of pine sap, even though there was a oak tree forest around it.

"This is very homey...I just might need some time to get used to it" Satine said as she started wandering around, obviously she had not been in a small living quarter for a long while.

"Take as long as you need, no one's rushing you" I stated as I ushered Korkie towards one of the bedrooms so he could put Calypso down and left, Calypso was almost fine, she had a small fever but that was it.

I walked into the kitchen area and started rummaging around for a cloth, after finding one I filled a bowl with cold water, after I walked back into the room and sat down on the bed next to Calypsos head, I started to dab her forhead with the cold cloth.

"Is she alright?" I looked over as Satine who sat down in front of me by Calypso's legs, and watched the girls face.

"Fine, a fever, but she's fine otherwise" I said as I re-dipped the cloth in the bowl,

"Where's Korkie?" I asked, she looked back up at me,

"He's doing a perimeter check to see if we were somehow followed" I nodded and let the cloth fall into the bowl,

"Satine, are you alright?" She looked away from me,

"Do you want an honest answer or one that would make you feel better?" She asked not turning any attention to me,

"The honest answser,"

 **(Satine's P.O.V)**

"The honest answer" I gulped, I didn't look at her as I started to respond,

"It...it hurts, that everything I worked so hard for Mandalore to achieve had just...just been thrown away like it...like it didn't matter" tears started to blur my vision, and I couldn't hold them back,

"Hey, it's their fault not yours, so don't blame yourself" she took my face in her hands and gently turned my head back to her,

"Ziva-" she cut me off,

"No, you know deep down that it's not your fault, you just won't admit it" she was right, but they were my people, and it was my responsibility to keep them in cheak, but I didnt, I failed them, what would Obi-Wan tell me to do? I paused, that was the first time I had thought of Obi-Wan since Ziva told me he went into hiding. Whether that was something to be proud of or not I'm not quite sure,

"Satine?" I shook my head and turned my attention back to the brunette in front of me, we we're so close I could kiss her if I wanted to, as if on instinct I started to lean in, she did the same, just before our lips met Calypso moaned, causing us to jump back,

"Mama?" The young girl asked as her big blue eyes opening for the first time, in a long time, because of her own free will, not her master's will. I looked over at Ziva who looked conflicted on how to handle the situation,

"Calypso?" I asked gently putting my hand on hers,

"Mama?" She looked between Ziva and I confused,

"Honey why don't you wait here we will be back in a minute" Calypso nodded weakly, I let go of her hand and pulled Ziva out of the room with me.

"What do we do with her?"

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

"What do we do with her?" I asked observing how Satine glanced back into the room and then back at me,

"Maybe we could-" my jaw literally dropped,

"Are you suggesting that we raise her?" I asked my voice louder then I wanted it to be, but she had to be kidding right? I wasn't aloud to do such things, unless the child was my Padawan.

"Well what other choice do we have?" Satine barked, her fist clenched,

"I don't know!" I wispered harshly causing her to flinch,

"We're clear" Korkies voice echoed through the house,

"Let me sleep on it" I said brushing pasted Satine.


	8. Chapter 8

**(Satine's P.O.V)**

I walked back into the room and moved the bowl of water away from Calypso, and sat down,

"What's wrong?" She asked looking me right in the eye, I put on a weak smile,

"Why would you think something is wrong?" She raised an eye brow, no doubt she was smart for her age,

"Then why were you and the other lady fighting?" I had almost forgot we had left the door open, she must have heard everything we said in the hallway.

"We were just sharing different opinion that's all" I know I was lying to both her and myself but, I need Ziva here to help us through this, I need her to help protect us, and I need her...I NEED HER! That was it, I need her, I need her smile, her laugh, her voice, her sparkling eyes, chocolate colored hair, and rose red lips, I need it all...But the Jedi order would never allow it, she has had those rules beat into her since she was young, but I have to atleast try.

"Miss, are you okay?" I snapped out of my thoughts and nodded,

"Yes I'm okay, I need to do something through, I'll be back later" I got up and walked to the kitchen/front entrance area,

"Korkie where is Ziva?" I asked my nephew who was sitting on a wooden chair,

"She went out to train or something, just follow the sound of a humming lightsaber" I nodded and walked out the door, once the door was secured I listened for the sound of lightsaber like Korkie suggested and ran in the direction of it. When I arrived I was stopped with the sight of Ziva swinging her lightsaber as if she was facing an invisible foe,

"ZIVA" I called out trying to get her attention

 **(Ziva's P.O.V)**

"ZIVA" I turned my lightsaber off but I didn't turn around,

"What?" I asked I could hear her foot steps as she got closer

"I realized something" she said stopping a few feet behind me,

"But I need you to face me, please I know what I said earlier may have been sudden, and I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to do" I slowly turned towards her, and next thing I knew a soft pair of lips met mine, I didn't react for a minute, but I eventually kissed back, we pulled away only when the need for oxygen over took us, our forheads were together,

"I need you Ziva, please, I need you" she wispered tears starting to well in her eyes,

"Satine I..."

(A/N: Sorry the chapter was so short and took so long to come out, I needed to take a break for a bit, and I've had an eventful last few weeks, my cousin was born, my great aunt died, and my mom had surgery, so I hope you can forgive me for this chapter.)


End file.
